1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a head for a liquid discharging apparatus such as a head for an ink-jet printer.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, there is known an ink-jet head in which a plurality of metal etching members are coupled by a metal diffusion bonding method to form ink channels (see, for example, US Patent Application Publication No. 2006/0044359 (corresponds to Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2006-96034, paragraphs 0039 to 0040)).
Such a head has a high fixing strength and a high stiffness, and for which a heating step can be used since a resin adhesive is not used.
However, since the head is difficult to be decomposed after joining, it is difficult to locate a leak position when a defective head is produced. Also, in particular, a leak to an adjacent cavity in a column portion between cavities to form pressure chambers is not tested, and there may even be a case that a defective head is assembled into a printer body as it is.
Incidentally, there is known a test method for an ink-jet printer head in which, between rows of pressure chambers, there is formed a distribution groove for testing, which extends along the rows of the pressure chambers and communicates with the outside, and a sealing leak between the rows of the pressure chambers can be tested securely within a short time (see, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,168,792 (corresponds to Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2005-96171, paragraphs [0038] to [0040] and FIG. 2 to FIG. 5)).
However, in the ink-jet printer head described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,168,792, since the distribution groove for testing is formed only between the rows of the pressure chambers, it is not possible to test a leak to an adjacent cavity in a column portion between cavities to form the pressure chambers.